Seminar - Politics and Gender in the Executive Suite

Politics and Gender in the Executive Suite

Abstract

We investigate the relationship of CEOs' political preferences (as reflected in their political contributions) with the prevalence and compensation of women in leadership positions at U.S. public companies. We find that CEOs who favor the Democratic Party (“Democratic CEOs”) are associated with the presence of more women in the team of non-CEO top executives (“the executive suite''). To explore causality, we use an event study approach and show that replacing a Republican CEO with a Democratic CEO is accompanied by an increased female representation in the executive suite. To further explore causality, we examine whether CEO political preferences are associated with gender diversity in the boardroom and find no such association. This lack of association is consistent with CEOs’ preferences having less influence over gender diversity in the boardroom than the executive suite because CEOs have less power over the appointment of directors who supposed to supervise the CEO than over that of executives reporting to the CEO. Finally, examining the gender gaps in the level and performance-sensitivity of executive pay documented in the literature, we find that they are driven by companies headed by Republican CEOs and disappear or at least diminish under Democratic CEOs.

Bio

Moshe is an Associate Professor in the School of Economics at Tel Aviv University, a Research Fellow at the CEPR, and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Population Economics. His broad interest is in demographic change, gender differences, and their interaction with economic growth. Recently he has been involved in three research agendas. First, he examined the interaction between income inequality and fertility choice through the marketization of childcare. Secondly, he examine how political preferences shape gender differences among top executives. Finally, he examine how changes in bargaining power within the household affect fertility choice and investment in children’s education.